President Obama Accelerates Transition Toward Geothermal

August 24, 2015-White House-President Obama is committed to taking responsible steps to address climate change, promote clean energy, and ensure a cleaner, more stable environment for future generations. That is why today he is announcing a robust set of executive actions and private sector commitments to accelerate the transition to cleaner sources of energy and cut energy waste. These actions will continue to expand opportunities to install energy saving technologies in households today, particularly those that need it most, while driving the development of low-cost clean energy technologies for tomorrow.

Last year, the United States brought online as much solar energy every three weeks as it did in all of 2008, and the solar industry added jobs 10 times faster than the rest of the economy.  Since the beginning of 2010, the average cost of a solar electric system has dropped by 50 percent. In fact, distributed solar prices fell 10 to 20 percent in 2014 alone and currently 44 states have pricing structures that encourage increased penetration of distributed generation.

Americans are also more empowered to capture opportunities to improve efficiency and cut energy waste into the amount of energy they are consuming. In fact, up to one third of households can track their energy use and learn ways to make choices to how to save on their energy bills. Since President Obama took office, the U.S. Department of Energy has already put in place appliance efficiency standards that will save American consumers nearly $480 billion on their utility bills through 2030, and the Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR Program continues to help save consumers more than $34 billion per year going forward.

The executive actions and private sector commitments President Obama is announcing today will continue to promote the use and development of smart, simple, low-cost technologies to help households save on their energy bills and help America transition to a cleaner energy sources.

Getting Geothermal Into School Curriculum

Specifically mentioned in the press release; Bosch is committing to dedicating part of its sales force to focus specifically on outreach to school districts in low income communities, as well as in extreme climate areas, where energy resiliency is paramount. These activities could include:

• Working to educate stakeholders and decision makers in low-income communities about the opportunities and benefits of high-efficiency buildings, particularly schools.
• Sharing critical information with stakeholders on how projects can be implemented in their regions, including case studies from existing Bosch school improvement projects.
• Providing best practices on how other schools integrate energy efficiency projects into student curriculum and reinforce teaching and learning about energy conservation in the classroom. 

Geothermal Direct Use Technology & Marketplace Forum to Focus on Low Temp

– Monday August 17, 2015, Pittsburgh, PA

The Department of Energy’s Geothermal Technologies Office (DOE GTO) and the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) have teamed up to bring a geothermal workshop/forum in which participants in the industry will be asked to provide personal experience, individual advice and information regarding low temperature (geothermal heat pumps) and direct use geothermal applications in the Eastern US.

The agenda includes presentations of current geothermal projects implementation from scholars and experts from the Eastern US and Iceland.

Workshop Agenda

"This workshop is a forum to exchange information on low temperature (GSHP) geothermal applications. To that end, participants will be asked to provide recommendations and information based on personal experience, individual advice, information, or facts regarding this topic. The objective of the workshop is not to obtain any group position or consensus; rather, the DOE is seeking as many recommendations as possible from all individuals at this meeting."

Some attendees will be touring the newly completed Frick Park Environmental Center GSHP installation on Tuesday morning.

Hilton Garden Inn Pittsburgh/Southpointe 1000 Corporate Dr, Canonsburg, PA 15317

Full Agenda (PDF)

How Can We Save 2-Trillion Gallons of Water?

YOU'D BE SURPRISED HOW MUCH WATER...

MANY COMMERCIAL AND RESIDENTIAL COMPLEXES use cooling towers to effectively aid in cooling.  An average public high school’s* cooling tower uses about 30,000 gallons of fresh water per day when it’s hot outside. That’s enough to fill a good sized back-yard swimming pool. Twice.  

A major airport can consume close to a million gallons of fresh water on a hot summer day, just for cooling tower operations. It’s great that we are honoring watering restrictions, fixing drips in faucets and leaky toilet valves; however there are billions of gallons of fresh water being evaporated and discharged into the sewer from cooling towers every day.

Cooling towers use the process of evaporative cooling to increase the energy efficiency of the air-conditioning equipment that serves the building. In the process, a lot of water is evaporated, and nearly as much more is flushed down the drain to purge out impurities.

The US had about 81 billion square feet of commercial space in 2010, served by 300 million tons of cooling capacity (based on floor space estimates from DOE report). This represents between 5-billion and 15-billion gallons of fresh water consumption each day. 

Buildings + Geothermal = More Fresh Water for US!

Industry has begun to embrace geothermal (elimination of cooling towers) for all the right reasons:

• Elimination of water consumption associated with cooling towers
• Elimination of tower related noise
• Elimination of chemical treatment for cooling towers
• Reduction in annual maintenance costs for HVAC system
• Storm proofing through elimination of outdoor equipment (the cooling tower)
• Impressive federal tax incentives
• Reduced capital expenditures for regular cooling tower replacement

The advantages that can be cited that make a geothermal sourced building more sustainable are many. With a reduction of water consumption (which can be close to half of all the freshwater consumed by a building), your client is saving money and doing a good thing for the environment.

Cooling towers can be rather noisy, and most will agree that elimination of this outside noise would be of benefit to both the public and occupants of the building.

Geothermal is Renewable and Energy Efficient, Too

Geothermal sourced chiller plants and heat pumps are more efficient by design, because the condenser water is cooler than can be supplied from an evaporative cooling tower, increasing the EER (Energy Efficiency Rating) substantially.

The average life of a chiller is about three decades, and most chiller plants live through two or three cooling tower replacements. With the geothermal source, these expensive planned expenses go away.

By placing a chiller plant, or any cooling tower-sourced building using water source air-conditioners/heat pumps on a geothermal source, you have created an entirely geothermal sourced building, making the entire building’s HVAC system eligible for federal tax credits. This means that when upgrading chillers and water sourced heat pump, they may be eligible for the current tax credits for geothermal systems.

Most regions of the country and the world have storm events periodically such as hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, etc. These storm related events can destroy outside equipment. Many insurance companies will provide credits for elimination of this equipment. The New York Times said, “Geothermal Systems Arise as a Storm-Proof Resource”.  Additionally, outside equipment often needs to be winterized, and properly installed geothermal sources may save you these seasonal costs and headaches.

The federal government gives a 10% federal tax credit, and five year depreciation through the Maximum Accelerated Cost Reduction System (MACRS) on commercial geothermal systems.  With 50% bonus depreciation the first year, a $1 million upgrade can net federal tax incentives amounting to 48% of the entire cost, or federal tax incentives of $480,000.

A Helping Hand for the California Drought (and everywhere else)

The USGS says that the average American uses 80 to 100 gallons of water each day.   Cooling towers use as much fresh water as 50,000,000 US residents each day. I think that California could put that water to good use. This is in the neighborhood of 20% of the volume of water that flows over Niagara Falls each day (65 Billion gallons of water flow over Niagara Falls each day).

• Geothermal HVAC technologies save our energy and water resources. Get Ready to GEO
• New York New York Approves Landmark Thermal Network 
• Presentation on the Utility Thermal Energy Network and Jobs Act: A Renewable Transition https://youtu.be/l1BEQCH47Hc  
  

*based on national average of 752 students per high school, 2000 https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2001/overview/table05.asp 

The Geothermal Generation Gap

All "Geothermal" is Renewable Energy From the Earth

Jefferson Tester has a name that is recognized far and wide for geothermal technologies. His accomplishments at Cornell University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory are cited far and wide. But isn’t Tester just interested in “hot geothermal”?

Cornell GSHP Research
in "Geo-Outlook"

Closing the Generation Gap

Any dividing lines between the hot/direct-use geothermal and ground source heat pumps (GSHP’s) are closing rapidly. In this month’s trade magazine from the International Ground Source Heat Pump Association (IGSHPA), an article entitled, “Cornell Researching GSHP Use for Verizon” features some of Tester’s work toward GSHP implementation.

Next month, Tester will be among those featured at a Geothermal Marketplace Workshop to be held August 17^th in Pittsburgh, sponsored by the DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL). Tester will be talking about GSHP’s.

Many special guests will be in attendance.  Bob Wyman will be sharing his updated paper, “Factors for Evaluating Heating Alternatives in New York State”.  A list of those expected to attend include David Danielson, Director of the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), James Critchfield, the EPA’s Director of Green Power Partnerships,  and Tholeikur Johannesson, an expert on large scale geothermal (including GSHP's) from Iceland, in addition to an impressive list of leaders from the DOE.

GSHP's and Hot Geothermal Together at Cornell University

The application and utilization of GSHP’s completes the picture for something Tester calls “Thermal-Cascade”.  Simply put, Cascade is the process of wringing every economically feasible BTU out of the geothermal process possible.  We all know that a GSHP can provide 5 units of energy for each unit consumed, effectively exchanging energy with fluids between 25F and 110F.

Consumers continue to be puzzled by geothermal, and that’s part of the reason that experts and contractors may “talk down” to them (consumers). Questions such as, “how far will you have to drill for hot water...?” are met with answers that are confusing to the layman, frustrating to the expert (having explained geothermal countless times), and just not as shiny and simple as other great "renewables" like solar. Perhaps we needn’t explain quite so much.  I certainly don’t understand all of the operating systems that make my Android function, but it works great.  Not many people will ever understand all of the ways to utilize the earth for renewable energy.  But, Geothermal works great.

“Within your lifetime, the house you live in will 

probably be heated and cooled by geothermal energy”

Geothermal: 24/7

The environmental and economic benefits of geothermal energy and its vital role in building a clean and secure energy future are vital and necessary.  We continue to invite industry partners, communities, businesses and educators to join efforts to advance further understanding and acceptance of geothermal technology as an unlimited, renewable form of energy.

We’re on the right track, with National Geothermal Day coming up on October 20^th, 2015. Feel free to join in by co-creating and sharing educational resources and participating in interactive activities in local communities and on-line. Attend workshops and keep sharing the simple truths about geothermal as a whole.  Let’s close the Geothermal Generation Gap. 

Thermal Cascade/Connectivity in the City

Church Office Building; Geothermal Since 1972

The Geothermal in This Building Helps Fight Fires

FIREFIGHTING + HVAC = GEOTHERMAL? Give me a minute and I'll explain...

It has been repeated time and again that churches drive many worthy and valuable efforts, and when they get behind something, people listen.  I wrote about a church in Tampa that has had geothermal HVAC since 1949, and had their first equipment upgrade in 2013 while still operating on the original geothermal wells. The Catholic Church has been in the news with remarkable sustainable efforts. Here is a peak at the 683,000 square foot Mormon Church Office Building in Salt Lake City, heated and cooled by geothermal sourced heat pump chillers since 1972.

Water Sourced Heat Pumps Corrosion? Check Your Ground!

Geothermal Heat Pumps Last 25 Years or More!

GEOTHERMAL HEAT PUMPS ARE AMONG THE MOST DEPENDABLE and long-lasting types of equipment available. Proper installation is a key factor in continued trouble free operation.

Proper grounding is important with regard to any piece of equipment that uses water as a heat transfer medium.  When leaks or corrosion occur, the first thing that is normally blamed is the water quality. You might be surprised to find out that the real culprit may be electrolysis.

Geothermal in NY State Exempt from Sales Tax

Tuesday June 9, 2015, NY. Congratulations and thank you to assembly member Ellen Jaffee, the assembly leadership, Senator Robert Ortt, the Sierra Club and NY-GEO.

New York State has led the way in legislation to make installation of geothermal heat pumps (GHP's) accessible to more New Yorkers than ever. 

Earlier this year, New York legislators attended and spoke at the NY-Geo Conference @ Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY.

Tuesday's assembly session passed A-5508 - a sales tax exemption bill for both residential and commercial geothermal heat pump installations.

Two priority bills favorable to geothermal heat pumps have passed both houses for this session stating that: 

“Geothermal energy, a renewable energy source, is a reliable and effective way to reduce the need for carbon based energy sources. By eliminating sales and use tax for both the purchase and installation of geothermal systems, more New York State residents would be able to afford this energy course. Similar laws exist to exempt sales and use tax for the purchase and installation of solar equipment.”

S2905/A2177a (25% residential tax credit up to $5,000) passed the Senate on Earth Day 4/22 and the Assembly on June 1st.

S4279/A5508 passed the Senate on Earth Day 4/22 and the Assembly on June 9th.

Jay Egg is a geothermal consultant, writer, and the owner of EggGeothermal. He has co-authored two textbooks on geothermal HVAC systems published by McGraw-HillProfessional. He can be reached at jayegg.geo@gmail.com